Notes from the Kingdom of Eburne on writing, reading, media and the perils of virtual reality.

September 11, 2011

First blog post in years. Prompted by my first night on Hornby island, where it's dark, deer are running amok on the roads, not a business is open, and I'm utterly alone in a cottage. Where I have wifi filched from the absent neighbours, and thus have Twitter, Facebook and Netflix.

And what am I thinking? That nature is evil. It wants you dead. It will eat you if you let your guard down. Don't believe that? Swim into the deep ocean alone and see how long you last. Toss away all your technology and let yourself be dropped off in any wilderness, anywhere, at least 100K from any human settlement or help, and see how long you last. You won't. You'll be a meal within three days. And a meal for some time after.

So yes, nature is cruel. Merciless, unjust, wicked, totally blind to appeals to reason. Humans didn't develop homes and villages and cosmopolitan civilizations because they were bored. They wanted to get AWAY from nature. They'd had way too much of it for their first half million years.

That's why it's funny to come to a place like Hornby, in a cottage, on a lot surrounded by trees. There are neighbouring lots and rather big cottages, more like big houses, but no one seems to be home. There are no street lights. The moon is full, but going down, and soon I will see my first unadulterated night sky in years. That's all good, badly needed by me, and one of many reasons people from the city flee to places like Hornby. To be a little closer to nature.

And I'm enjoying it. It's quiet. I'm giving rides to strangers. I like rambling around in my rattling Trooper on the roads here. I don't mind that things close down on Sundays after dark. But this is as close to nature as I suggest we get.